New media is an old style of communication through a new form. The meaning of this definition changes as time goes on, but it fundamentally refers to a change in media. Every form of communication, from photography to Twitter to human language started as new media. Manovich outlines how modern new media has changed our relationship with static communication. Things that exist unchanged are becoming less and less relevant to our daily lives. That, however, is not true of all new media, just of a lot of current new media. We have, more than ever, the ability to change our communication with others, but static ebooks and new forms of music distribution are growing as well. While dynamic communication is on the rise, static communication is not dying. Similarly, Parikka talks about new media’s impact on the earth from a geological standpoint, and while he is absolutely right that modern new media has a greater impact on the earth’s wellbeing than ever before, that is an unfair classification for all of new media. New media exists in both high and low tech formats, the recent rise of digital media is not the only place experimentation in form is happening.

Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2001. Print.

Parikka, Jussi. “The Geology of Media.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.